If you’re trying to bring AI into your business, you’re probably wondering:
Should we roll it out top-down—or start with the people already doing the work?
At SOLVD, we’ve seen time and time again that the smartest path is starting from the bottom up.
“Bottom-up… what we’re referring to is empowering experts at an organization to use AI effectively.” – Evan Connell, Consulting Manager at SOLVD
Here’s what that means—and how you can do it the right way.
In a typical software rollout, leadership picks the tools, IT builds it out, and then users are trained at the end. That’s a top-down approach. It works fine for big systems that need structure.
But AI is different.
You don’t need a huge buildout to start seeing value from AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. The people who benefit most are usually the people closest to the work—sales reps, support agents, and developers.
“You just gotta give your people access to it… some training… and then encourage use.” – Evan Connell, Consulting Manager at SOLVD
This doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s how to start small but smart:
1. Choose the Right Tools
Pick an AI tool that works for your team. Make sure it respects your privacy—some tools save chats and use them to train future models. You’ll want to avoid that if you’re handling sensitive data.
“Make sure… they’re not gonna train on the data that you’re giving them.” – Evan Connell, Consulting Manager at SOLVD
2. Update Your Policies
Create simple, clear guidelines. Let your team know which AI tools are approved, how to use them safely, and when to avoid them. Transparency builds trust.
3. Train Your Team
Show people how to use AI effectively—especially how to write good prompts. It doesn’t take long, and it helps people feel confident, not confused.
4. Encourage Experimentation
This part is key. Let your team test, share, and talk about what’s working. When people realize they’re safe to try new things, creativity follows.
“Set people’s minds at ease… and you’ll start to naturally get this positive experimentation.” – Evan Connell, Consulting Manager at SOLVD
AI works best when it solves real problems. And no one knows those problems better than the people doing the work every day.
Once your team starts using AI in small ways—writing emails faster, summarizing meeting notes, building simple automations—they’ll start finding bigger ways to use it. That’s how bottom-up adoption leads to real transformation.
At SOLVD, we help mid-market SaaS businesses adopt AI with confidence—starting from the bottom up.
📅 Schedule a free discovery call with our team and let’s build your AI adoption plan, step by step.
From my initial call with Spencer through project implementation with John and Evan, my experience with the SOLVD team was excellent. They were quick to understand our business needs, clear when explaining the reasoning behind proposed solutions, transparent when reporting on progress and timeline, and all around enjoyable to work with. Would highly recommend and looking forward to continue working with them in the future!
SOLVD was very straight forward with everything needed to complete the project. No surprises, no issues, and cost was aligned with the estimate. They made implementation easy and quick.
As a rule, I'm pretty stingy with my recommendations. So it's a pleasure for me to recommend Solvd as a top-flight Salesforce consultancy. Solvd recently led our company's conversion to the Lightning interface and did it on time, on budget and made it easy for me and my team. I know I'll use their services again, and am confident they can do the same for you.
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